Eyebrow-raising

Todd Blanche pulls his most eyebrow-raising move yet

His critics say he’s still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer. Trump world says he’s “the guy everyone loves.”

By Erica Orden

When Todd Blanche announced charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center last month, critics accused him of placating President Donald Trump in an effort to secure the attorney general job permanently.

Blanche weathered similar criticism about a week later, when the Justice Department indicted longtime Trump foe James Comey a second time, accusing him of threatening the president’s life with an Instagram photo of seashells.

But perhaps nothing Blanche has done in his time as acting attorney general compares to this week’s one-two punch: a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of alleged weaponization of law enforcement, effectively designed to reward Trump allies; and a pledge, signed by Blanche alone, that the IRS will no longer pursue any claims it may have against Trump, his family members or his companies over unpaid taxes.

The second measure in particular struck many as Blanche’s most audacious move yet, designed not just to punish the president’s enemies or compensate his supporters, but to provide a personal, lasting benefit to Trump himself.

“Trump had his personal lawyer, who he installed atop the Justice Department, give him a get-out-of-jail-free card for past, present, and future tax fraud,” Rep. Don Beyer wrote in a social media post.

At the White House, Blanche’s actions are winning raves. “He’s the guy everyone loves,” said a senior administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Asked if anyone is poised to replace him, the official laughed and said “no.”

Blanche’s priorities, the official said, are things his predecessor, Pam Bondi, was “not necessarily focused on.”

“He gets along with everyone, he pushes, he racks up wins … He’s building out a record that people can point to, and building out a record that follows what the president laid out on the campaign trail.”

Justice Department spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

During a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing this week, Blanche attempted to defend the creation of the anti-weaponization fund, which was the result of a settlement in which Trump agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax information.

Blanche’s defense, however, did little to alleviate critics’ concerns that the account is a means to funnel federal funds to people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The acting attorney general testified that “anybody can apply,” adding that “whether an individual, an Oath Keeper as you just mentioned, applies for compensation … anybody in this country can apply.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen and other Democrats said Blanche, who represented Trump in criminal cases while Trump was out of office, is continuing to behave like the president’s personal attorney — prompting Blanche to respond with a flash of anger.

“I’m the acting attorney general. OK, the fact that I used to be President Trump’s lawyer is just a fact, but I’m the acting attorney general. So, don’t say ‘the president’s former personal lawyer will do something.’ The acting attorney general will do something,” Blanche said, jabbing his finger into the table in front of him.

And that was before news broke of the IRS pledge, which was quietly posted on the Justice Department website Tuesday morning but didn’t attract notice until it was reported by POLITICO later that afternoon, after Blanche’s hearing.

On Wednesday, Blanche sought to quell backlash about the deal, telling CNN: “The fact that the IRS is settling a case and not moving forward with an audit is not unusual.”

Asked who proposed the audit addendum, Blanche attempted to distance himself. “The president has outside counsel and there are counsel at the Department of Justice — not me — and there was negotiations and part of those negotiations included a discussion around any pending audits.”

He met privately with Senate Republicans Thursday as he struggled to quiet concerns about the “anti-weaponization” fund, but appeared to make little headway.

Rebecca Roiphe, a New York Law School professor, said that while it’s possible Blanche could be standing in the way of even more extreme steps behind closed doors, his public posture is one of complete deference to Trump.

“All of the public actions that he’s taken make him look like it’s much of the same in terms of his willingness to cave to that kind of pressure and his lack of attention to the historical role of the attorney general in facilitating the policies of the president through the law, but also standing in his way when [Trump] wants to do something either illegal or unethical or in other ways problematic,” she said.

Roiphe added that while Blanche might be going out of his way to do “cartwheels to please the president” in order to secure the job permanently, it’s also clear that this is the behavior Trump wants and demands in an attorney general regardless of their status.

“I think that that’s entirely plausible” that Blanche is placating Trump in an attempt to shed the “acting” title, she said, “but I also don’t know, even if he were confirmed, how different this would be, because I think … it’s been conveyed now that if you take this job, this is what it means that you have to do.”